APNU/AFC’s spectacular accumulation of lies continues unabated

It is undeniable; APNU/AFC is drowning in a grotesque accumulation of lies. Every day, there is at least one major lie. If I had the luxury of space, I can itemise a lie for every day APNU/AFC has been in office. It is not what some will deem “little white lies”, such as “I was not in the rum shop until after 2 am this morning”. Rather, it is lies that impact on people’s lives and on the future of our country. APNU/AFC’s blueprint for governance is a platform of lies, misdirection, misinformation, perversion of truths and facts. Their only clear policy blueprint is LIE, LIE AGAIN, LIE OFTEN.
This past week, a leaked email confirmed that the AFC played a pivotal role in the unilateral, unconstitutional, illegal appointment of James Patterson as the Chair of GECOM. The AFC had insisted they had no role, they were never consulted and that the appointment was made by President David Granger, without any involvement of the AFC. This is in spite of the evidence that their Leader, Raphael Trotman, was present in all the meetings between President Granger and the Leader of the Opposition. Trotman insisted he was present at the meeting which announced the appointment of James Patterson only because of a last-minute summons. The email confirmed that as Chairman of the AFC, Ramjattan, with Trotman’s acquiescence, advised Granger not to appoint any of the nominees proposed by the Leader of the Opposition.
The AFC is firmly behind the PNC’s hijack of GECOM in the larger effort to rig upcoming elections. The PNC, just as President Granger has promised, is accelerating its blueprint to restore Burnham’s legacy of brutal dictatorship and rigged elections. Their lying ways are not the run-of-the-mill “little white lies”. The APNU/AFC lies have major implications for the survival of democracy in our country, a country that suffered because of spectacular rigged elections in 1968, 1973, 1978, 1980 and 1985. The lies we have heard relating to GECOM and the appointment of its chair are part of the formula for restoring those rigged elections.
The GECOM lies are only a small percentage of the mountain of lies from APNU/AFC. This past week, APNU/AFC railroaded the budget for statutory agencies. These agencies include Parliament; GECOM; the DPP; the Auditor General; the Rights Commissions, such as the Ethnic Relations Commission, the Indigenous People’s Commission, the Rights of the Child Commission, the Women and Gender Relations Commission; the Service Commissions, such as the Police, Public Service and Judicial Service Commissions. APNU/AFC, against the objection of the parliamentary Opposition and the statutory bodies themselves, implemented drastic cuts in the budgets of these agencies.
One of their major objections when the PPP was in office was that all of these agencies, as statutory agencies, should not have their budgets scrutinised by the Minister of Finance and by the Cabinet. They even moved a resolution in the 10th Parliament for a special select committee to draft laws to provide for these bodies to directly propose their budgets to Parliament for appropriations and that the proposed budgets should be put and approved without debate. This was their position, when they were in Opposition, and a promise they made during the election campaign. Now in their fourth budget since assuming office, they want absolute control, effecting the largest cuts that these agencies have experienced in more than two decades or since they have come into being. They lied when they promised absolute autonomy. They want these agencies beholden to them.
They had promised us complete autonomy of statutory agencies; free media; strong trade unions; zero corruption; an economy driven by the Private Sector; Police, Army and judiciary that are free of political interference; an efficient GPL; a vibrant sugar industry, with workers benefiting from an annual 20 per cent pay increase; rice farmers getting more markets and at least $9000 per bag of paddy; pensioners receiving a 100 per cent increase in their first year in office; less taxes; free and fair elections, etc. They lied on all these.
These substantive lies expose the sinister motive –- dictatorial rule. Ravi Dev writing in his column this week summarised the seven characteristics of a totalitarian regime, articulated in the Carl Freidrich’s model of totalitarianism. APNU/AFC’s lies are part of implementing these seven characteristics. Burnham took at least a term to begin consolidating a dictatorial regime. Granger and his PNC cohorts, with absolute support from the AFC, is accomplishing Burnham’s formula in about half the time. I echo Ravi Dev’s caution – we are forewarned.